Background Improvements in medical technologies have seen over-medicalization of
childbirth. Caesarean section (CS) is a lifesaving procedure proven effective in reducing …

We study the effect of institutional quality on the appropriateness of healthcare provision in
Italian hospitals. We focus on cesarean section rates for first-time mothers, which is a …

Empirical evidence supports the conjecture that social interactions among agents can
produce both positive and negative effects. We build on this literature by exploring the role of …

Medical liability has been suspected of increasing health expenditure insofar as it induces
the practice of defensive medicine. Despite the large evidence on the role of medical …

We study how legal and financial incentives affect medical decisions. Using patient-level
data from Italy, we identify the effect of a change in medical liability pressure by exploiting …

Fee equalization in health care brings under a unique tariff several medical treatments,
coded under different Diagnosis Related Groups (DRGs). The aim is to improve healthcare …

Akin to other developing countries, Algeria has witnessed an increasing role of the private
health sector in the past two decades. Our study sheds light on the public–private overlap …

Building on the idea that different hospitals may operate with different technologies, the
objective of this paper is a spatial characterization of the production function of hospital …

We evaluate the relationship between hospital ownership and responses to a policy
providing large financial incentives for vaginal deliveries and financial disincentives for C …

Health systems aim at maximizing population health within their available resources. Health
outcomes in turn depend on the quality of healthcare and the appropriateness of treatment …